Abstract

I confront here with the evidence the revisionist hipothesis that early in the second half of the nineteenth century, once the Parana River was opened to international navigation and trade by the new Argentine government, the foreign trade of Paraguay during the governments of Carlos Antonio Lopez and his son Francisco Solano increased noticeable relative to the level it had attained during the first half of the nineteenth century. Exports of yerba mate, which the Paraguayan government bought at monopsonist prices from individuals licensed to harvest it and sold in the market down river in competition with Brazilian suppliers. But though the evidence is consistent with the notion that the Paraguayan government invested part of the earnings that it obtained from its exports in improving its military forces and improving communications, no evidence exists of a state-led industrialization such as that which until now had been asserted to have taken place. Rather, the evidence suggest that the government's economic policy was similar to that followed by the late colonial period by the Bourbons.
[Confronto aqui con la evidencia la hipótesis revisionista de que a principios de la segunda mitad del siglo diecinueve, abierto el rio Parana a la navegación internacional en 1852 por el nuevo gobierno argentino, el comercio exterior paraguayo durante los gobiernos paraguayos nacional tempranos de Carlos Antonio López y su hijo Francisco Solano aumentó notablemente en relación al nivel que había tenido durante la primera mitad del siglo diecinueve. Crecieron en particular las exportaciones de yerba mate, que el gobierno compraba a particulares a precios monopsónicos y revendía en el mercado río abajo en competencia con proveedores brasileros. Pero aunque la evidencia es consistente con la noción que el gobierno paraguayo invirtió parte de las ganancias que obtuvo de estas exportaciones en fortalecer su ejército y mejorar las comunicaciones, no existe evidencia de ninguna “industrialización liderada por el estado” como la que hasta ahora se había aseverado. Antes bien, la evidencia sugiere que política del gobierno era similar a la tardo colonial borbónica de fines del siglo dieciocho].

autarky; export boom; growing state exports & state investments in infrastructure and military capacity; public finances and state enterprises resembling those of late-colonial Bourbonic administration.